Los Angeles Chargers

NFL clears way for Raiders relocation vote as early as next week

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

Peter King/Sports Illustrated via MMQB

As the NFL heads to its annual league meetings next week (in Phoenix, beginning Sunday), there are a few things happening. Pace of game will be discussed and amended, I believe. Sportsmanship will be on the agenda—particularly as it pertains to silly mega-fines for things like shooting a faux free-throw over the goal post as a touchdown celebration. But the biggie, to be sure, is the fate of the Raiders’ proposed move to Las Vegas.

Looks like they won’t be the Oakland Raiders much longer.

Albert Breer of The MMQB has been reporting the story for the past couple days, and he will have significant details in his column Thursday. I asked him to give me the headlines, seeing that it’s likely those will leak out Wednesday. Breer’s report:

The Raiders aren’t packing for Vegas yet, but there may be no stopping them now. The league has made workable one potential road block for owner Mark Davis’ team, setting a range of $325 million to $375 million for the franchise’s relocation fee, sources tell The MMQB. That's relatively affordable compared to the $650 million the Rams and Chargers each paid to relocate to Los Angeles.

The expectation now is that a vote on the move will be taken at next week’s annual meeting—a good indication the league feels it has the requisite three-quarters of the league’s 32 owners to approve the move to Las Vegas. The NFL’s stadium finance committee met last week, and clearly the NFL is bullish on a funding plan that is now being backed by Bank of America, and has its foundation in a record $750 million in public money. As one owner explained about the viability of the project, “I think in 10 to 15 years, you’ll see the Raiders doing better than at least one of the L.A. teams and potentially both L.A. teams.”

There is some concern over the idea of moving from the nation’s sixth-largest market—and a growing, diverse and economically vibrant one—to its 40th-biggest market. And there are lingering questions about the lease in Oakland and whether the Raiders would need to use a potential temporary facility, UNLV’s Sam Boyd Stadium, before the new stadium would be ready in 2020. But no legitimate, stay-in-Oakland option is on the table. So by this time next week, there’s a very good chance that the NFL’s renegade brand will be on the move again.

It’s not a stunner, and once the Bank of America financing came in to support the $750-million guarantee from Nevada officials, the Raiders would have had to have a huge about-face from Oakland—which doesn’t have that kind of money to throw around—to reverse course and stay in northern California. So I get it. What I do not like, though, is the Chargers and Raiders are leaving passionate markets, Oakland and San Diego, for Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Vegas is a total unknown, but I actually think the Chargers in Los Angeles is worse for the league. No one in L.A. cares about the Chargers. Plus, they are not winners right now. If they want to matter, they’d better win soon.

The NFL is not as strong with the Chargers out of San Diego and the Raiders out of Oakland. The NFL is not as passionate a league. It’s a wealthier league. But it’s not a better league for people who consume the game.

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